cook: tuscan soup

I can tolerate rainy and chilly weather if I get to wear a cashmere sweater and cook soup. Last night was such an evening in Northern California, and so I made soup. I suppose the Italian sausage and cannellini beans and lacinato kale make this soup northern Italian.                     

Like any delicious soup, I started chopping aromatics of a yellow onion and garlic. I also chopped vegetables of carrots and celery as well as fresh herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme to sauté in butter and olive oil.                   

And then I added 4 Italian sausages, both mild and hot to brown. And then homemade chicken bone broth and a little beef base because I saw it in the fridge which then got me to wondering if I still had chicken base—I did and so that went in the pot along with soaked and boiled Northern white beans (about a cup of dried which expanded to what you’d get in a large can) along with its boiling water to which I had added a teaspoon of salt. That was the only salt I added because I figured the sausage and soup bases had plenty sodium. 

And then it was just a matter of boiling to soften the beans even more and hopefully break down in order to thicken the soup. I added the kale last and let the soup boil even longer to tenderize those thick stems. If I could have, I would’ve had this pot simmering more slowly for another hour rather than furiously boiling just one hour before dinner.              

I managed to clean my freezer of the rest of package of frozen bread sticks. Soup for dinner, not the hubs' favorite, but I've a feeling the soup will be even more delicious when the flavors have melded more overnight or longer. There was enough leftover to fill two big and one small mason jars, and of course, I'm giving a big batch to Cecilia.    

And so there was no time for crafting while cooking my soup because after work I had stopped at Hobby Lobby to buy transfer markers and fabric paint and at World Market to buy some red curry paste. My Gado Gado at lunch was so delicious, and it was because of the dressing. And so I aim to make an Indonesian salad at home by making that savory satay sauce, hence the red curry paste. I spied some cute Christmas décor at the store and couldn't resist buying these twelve glass acorn ornaments--they're almost as pretty as my one mercury glass acorn. 8 are already hanging on my tree until I get more twine (I use my glue gun to seal the knot) to hang the other 4. I can pluck them off the tree and use them as embellishment for any Christmas presents which I always wrap in kraft paper:)